Acts 10:1-48
“No Partiality”
In
last Sunday’s sermon I worked so hard to try to make evangelism and inviting
people to Christ seem fairly safe and comfortable—it’s just coming alongside
someone who’s searching for faith and sharing the journey with them. But that was Acts chapter 8. Today we have heard Acts 10, and there
doesn’t seem to be any way to make this story feel safe and comfortable. Peter is called to go where he’d really
rather not go and to invite someone he’d rather not even talk to. He is called to violate his own religious
principles, and if you read on into chapter 11, he gets in trouble with the other
apostles back in
It’s
impossible to exaggerate how radical a thing Peter does in this story. To baptize Gentiles was scandalous. To bring non-Jews into a religious community
that was still all Jewish was a shocking thing to do. I wish there were some way for us to understand
how important the dietary laws were to the Jewish people. For Peter to shake hands with a Roman, for
Peter to sit down to dinner with Cornelius was not just going against social
custom, not just a breach of etiquette—it was going against scripture. It was the Bible that told Peter not to eat with
or keep company with Cornelius. This is
no small step that he is taking, and you heard in the story that he doesn’t
take it lightly.
When
reaching out and inviting in more radical ways, this story has several
important things to say:
1)
First, radical hospitality must be driven by the Holy Spirit and informed by
vision. It’s not Peter’s idea to reach
out to a Roman soldier, and it wasn’t Cornelius’ idea to seek out Peter. The Holy Spirit got to both of them. And what’s more, each of them has a
vision. Cornelius has a vision of
finding where Peter is staying, and Peter has the dramatic vision all things,
all people, clean.
2)
Second, radical hospitality requires intentionality, going out of your
way. Cornelius has to send people to
find Peter. Peter has to travel to see
Cornelius. Even though the Holy Spirit
is behind it, this conversion doesn’t just happen. They went out of their way to make it happen.
3) And
finally, even though there was an intentionality about their actions, you don’t
want to think too much about it. If
Peter had known ahead of time that he would wind up baptizing a crowd of
Gentiles, if he had known ahead of time that he would get in trouble back in
I
was quite intentional about writing that ad in the Dispatch back in ’99 advocating
of full church participation for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
persons. I did it on purpose and I did
it to be faithful to the Holy Spirit.
But if I’d known ahead of time that eventually 30-40 people would leave
this church over that issue, I’m not so sure I’d have had the courage. As it was, I just kind of stumbled along, and
the next thing you know, we’re a Reconciling Congregation.
Like
Peter and Cornelius,
There
are lots of reasons why it’s hard for us to invite people to church. But one reason we don’t do more inviting—and
it’s not a reason we like to admit to—is that we are so comfortable with the
people who are already here. Do we
really want lots of new people in the church?
Well, yes and no. Yes, of course
we want everyone to experience the love and acceptance we have found in Jesus
Christ. And, well, no, we don’t want
anything to change our cozy little church!
Two
women were talking at their church circle meeting. One said, “You know my nephew Joel?” “The one with the pink hair and all the
piercings?” “Yeah, that him. He’s been asking me lately about God and my
Bible, so I invited him to come to church this Sunday. But now I’m kind of nervous.” “Why, are you afraid he won’t come?” “No, I’m afraid he will!”
Who’s
really welcome in the church, and who’s not?
Who decides? Where’s the dividing
line? For Peter, the dividing line was
those dietary restrictions, which, of course, we don’t have. But Barbara Taylor reminds us that we do have
some scruples left about holiness and food.
How would you feel, she asks, if you came to church and found pork chops
and scotch whiskey on the altar instead of bread and wine?
But
beyond that possibly slightly silly picture, imagine, she says, anything that,
for you, is the dividing line between Christians and other people. Or, I might add, the line between true
Christians (like us, of course) and other so-called Christians who just don’t
get it. What is the one thing that makes
us who we are, the one thing that is not negotiable, the one thing that we
cannot compromise on without compromising our identity as God’s people? It could be the way or time or place that we
worship. It could be certain core
beliefs, like the virgin birth or the inerrancy of scripture. It could be certain conservative, or liberal,
ideas that we think Jesus approves of. And when you figure out what that one thing
is that you can’t let go of, get ready to let it go, because that is what Peter
had to do.[1]
Because,
finally, we do not get to decide who
is welcome in the church. We do not
decide who is in and who is out. God
decides and sends us a memo. And if the
Book of Acts is any indication, God tends to open the door rather wider than
most of us human beings.
In
order to be a truly invitational church, we have to aim to convert not just
others, but our own selves. Before we
can be fully invitational, we have to address the ways we may subtly fail to
welcome people—all people—into our midst.
We have to quit being satisfied with who’s already here. It’s as the great missionary E. Stanley Jones
said: “I have spent half my life in
striving to win men to Christ and the church, and the other half in trying to
win the church to Christ.”[2] I don’t believe that is meant to be a
criticism of the church exactly. It is
just to say that God is always doing new things, the Holy Spirit is always
giving new visions, and therefore we are always in the process of tearing down
old barriers and shaking hands with people we never expected to meet.
Peter’s
sermon that day began with the words, “I truly understand that God shows no
partiality.” No partiality--it means
that for God there are no “in-groups” and “out-groups.” As one scholar has put it, Peter can’t let
Cornelius “in” without letting go of the very idea of “in-ness.”[3] Which means that, even though it’s surely
good for us to take pride and ownership in our congregation, we can’t really
invite someone to be part of “our” church, because it’s not “our” church. It’s always as much “their” church as “our”
church, and finally, of course, it’s Christ’s church.
Our
vision from the Holy Spirit is this: all
sexual orientations, all races—or at a couple, all ages—especially children,
youth and young adults, all worshiping and serving and loving together in
Jesus’ name. To live out the vision
takes intentionality. It won’t just
happen; we’ll have to go out of our way to make it happen. But don’t think too much or you might get
cold feet. Just go.
Why? Because Christ’s love and acceptance is for all people. Because the church is for everyone. Do you know how I can prove to you that Jesus
will let just about anybody in his church?
Here’s your proof—we’re here,
aren’t we? Sinners and worriers and
doubters and non-forgivers—and heck, that’s just me! Christ’s love and acceptance is for all people. We know because by the grace of God we are
here today.
The
question is, who else will be here next Sunday?
Who will you bring to help prove it is true?